Little Big Brother
by Unsubstantiated Assertion
Summary: Now that Ezran is eighteen, he needs an official royal portrait. Callum's been tasked with painting it, which leads him to uncover a horrific truth: he's somehow managed to become the shortest person in their family.


_**I needed a bit of a break and rest from Swapped, so here's a funny and fluffy little drabble in the meantime while I work on the (probably but not guaranteed) final chapter. Everyone seems to agree that Ezran will take after Harrow and be the tallest of the main three, but considering how elves appear to be pretty tall on average I think its a real possibility that Callum might end up the shortest and I thought his reaction to that fact would make for a funny one-off.**_

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Of the many problems that came from being crowned king at only ten, one of the less obvious was that Ezran outgrew his royal portraits fast. Every year or so he'd grown enough that they looked more like baby pictures than a current mural of Katolis' ruler. Especially as Ezran had inherited his father's height and shot up like a weed as the years went on. By his thirteenth year, the council unanimously decided to wait until Ezran was an adult to commission another. Shortly after his eighteenth birthday, Ezran decided it was time for a final, official portrait.

He refused the esteemed painter Opeli hired for the task. A relatively recent development gave Ezran a far better idea.

Ezran stood in front of his throne, in full regalia and giving his most dignified look. This didn't match with the fact he'd insisted Bait be in the picture as well, the glow toad in question was held to Ezran's chest like a newborn baby. Bait's grumbling made it clear to the painter that he did not wish to be here.

"Tell me again, why do I have to be in the picture?" the artist asked.

"Because I'm the king and I want you be in it. Also where else am I going to find someone who can paint a picture and pose for it at the same time," Ezran chuckled and gestured to the illusory Callum posed next to him.

"Fine," Callum sighed. He disappeared behind his easel to resume sketching.

"And why do _I_ have to be in the picture?" Rayla asked from her position on the other side of the illusory Callum.

"Because I'm the king and I want you to be in it," Ezran repeated. "You guys are my family, and are just as important to Katolis as me. You deserve to be here."

"Tha's very sweet; but can I at least stand on the other side of ya? This thing gives me the creeps." Rayla pointed at the fake Callum, which stood perfectly still. "It's those dead eyes. I'm gonna have nightmares about it," she shivered.

"Can it really be a nightmare if its about me?" Callum teased.

"Tha's _not_ you. It's an abomination and its gonna murder us in our sleep," Rayla took a step away from the illusion.

Bait took Rayla's breaking of form as inspiration and struggled in Ezran's arms. He grumbled again. "Just hold still a little longer, Bait. Then you can have as many jelly tarts as you want." Ezran looked over at Callum and asked, "How much longer will this take?"

"A couple hours at least. I just started, Ez."

Bait glowed a dissatisfied shade of orange at that news. Ezran and Rayla didn't look much happier, either. The illusory Callum said nothing and continued to stare blankly ahead like the world's most realistic mannequin.

Callum ignored the others and kept up his work. He'd gotten the initial line-work done. Now it was time for details and then the far more ambitious task of turning the drawing into a painting. Callum gave the outlines a brief look over to make sure he hadn't gotten any details wrong when something caught his eye. 'He,' or rather Illusion-Callum was sandwhiched between Ezran and Rayla. That direct side-to-side-to-side comparison made something unmistakably clear. Thinking it was a mistake, he peeked out around the canvas to double check and saw the same results.

"Wha's wrong?" Rayla asked in response to Callum's distressed mien.

"I'm the shortest one in the family," Callum hardly believed what he was saying.

Ezran stared at him bemusedly. "You're just now noticing this?"

"I'd never really thought about it before."

"Yer taller than Bait," Rayla offered while barely keeping a straight face. Between how shocked Callum was mixed with the fact that he should have noticed this years ago, the whole issue was adorably amusing.

Callum huffed and crossed his arms. "Bait doesn't count."

"Don't worry about it, Callum. You're still my big brother no matter how tall any of us are," Ezran said.

Callum smiled.

"My little big brother."

Callum's smile vanished.

At that moment, Soren marched in on his patrol.

"Hey guys-slash-your highness," he waved. Soren stopped dead in his tracks and took a double take at the Callum standing next to Ezran and the Callum at the easel. He walked up to the Illusion-Callum and waved his hand in front of it. Rayla and Ezran tried not to laugh.

Now that Soren was standing next to the illusion, Callum noticed something else. "Oh come_ on_!" Soren was taller than him too.

Soren looked over to the real Callum in response to his outburst, then back at the illusion. "You're all seeing this, right?"

Callum rolled his eyes and quickly drew a moon rune in the air. The illusory Callum faded out of existence. Soren stared aghast at the now empty spot between Ezran and Rayla.

Bait took the dismissal of the illusion and Soren's interruption as a sign the portrait painting was done and broke free from Ezran's grasp. He landed with a thud on stone floor and scuttled away towards the kitchen.

"Bait! We're not done, come back!" Ezran took off after the glow toad. Bait was many things, but fast wasn't one of them, so the fact that Ezran still failed to catch him told Callum that Ezran probably didn't intend to come back to the portrait anytime soon. In fact it seemed more like both were headed towards the kitchen with only the slightest pretense of one chasing the other.

"Oh!" Soren slapped his forehead. "That Callum was an illusion! 'Cause you can do Moon magic now, that's a thing that happened."

"Yes," Callum nodded, "it is."

"Don't mind him. He's just a..._ little_ sore about his height," Rayla giggled.

"Ha. Ha." Callum punctuated each fake laugh with a slow clap.

The air in the room got much tenser. "I better go help find Bait," Soren said and ran off.

Rayla walked over to the still pouting Callum and placed her hand on the small of his back.

"Aw, don't worry, sad prince. Ya won't be the shortest one in our family for much longer..." She walked off to join the others in the kitchen, where they were no doubt ravaging the stock of jelly tarts intended for after the now forgotten portrait's completion.

Callum stood in place, confused. "What's that supposed to mean?"

His eyes widened. He ran after her.

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_**It means exactly what you think it does.**_

_**Also, another note on Swapped. While not intended, I realized while writing this story that both involve Callum trying to connect to the Moon arcanum (or in this case having successfully done it). So I guess you can consider this a eight years later sequel to Swapped. Spoiler alert, obviously they got back in their original bodies.**_


End file.
